Reworking China's Proletariat

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xviii

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2. Theorising China’s Proletariat

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Introduction

      • Sally Sargeson

      Pages 3-18

   3. Reforming the Proletariat

      • Sally Sargeson

      Pages 19-43

   4. Placing the Proletariat

      • Sally Sargeson

      Pages 44-68

3. Experiences and Understandings of Waged Work

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 69-69

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   2. Recruitment: Segmenting Class

      • Sally Sargeson

      Pages 71-102

   3. Productive Architecture

      • Sally Sargeson

      Pages 103-123

   4. Labour Processes

      • Sally Sargeson

      Pages 124-148

   5. A Cipher of Class: The Wage-Labour Bargain

      • Sally Sargeson

      Pages 149-182

4. Labours of Representation

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 183-183

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   2. Neighbourhood Identities, Neighbourhood Dispositions

      • Sally Sargeson

      Pages 185-219

   3. Conclusion

      • Sally Sargeson

      Pages 220-227

5. Back Matter

   Pages 228-278

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China's workers have been transformed by the transition to capitalism. Sally Sargeson presents a new theoretical analysis of the impact of capitalism and state power on social identities, employment conditions and workplace organization. Her study draws upon an unprecedented level of empirical research from case studies of the labour market and employment conditions in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province. The book will interest students of Chinese political economy, socialist transition, working class formation and the representation of collective identity.

• China
• employment
• labor market
• labour market
• organization
• organizations
• political economy
• transition

'...this is a quality addition to the scholarly literature on workers in contemporary China.' - Harry Williams, Journal of Contemporary Asia

SALLY SARGESON is Lecturer in Chinese Studies at Murdoch University, Western Australia. She has been studying China's political economy since she first enrolled at Xiamen University as an anthropology student in 1985. Since then, she has completed a PhD at Murdoch University, been a Research Fellow at Zhejiang University, and an Exchange Scholar at Harvard University. She has published in the areas of labour reforms and industrial relations in China, and property rights reforms.

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